By Gabriel Dike
Ahead of the proposed national strike, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said the ongoing school exams would hold today as scheduled.
The council in a circular to schools and parents said despite the proposed strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), the ongoing May/June 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), would hold throughout the country.
A circular signed by the Senior Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator, Mrs. T. O. Danjuma, said the attention of the council has been drawn to a notice of the commencement of indefinite strike by the NLC and the TUC effective, today, June 3, 2024.
The circular to schools titled: “WASSCE (SC), 2024. Notice of commencement of indefinite strike by NLC and TUC stressed that “in as much as we share the concerns of the unions and the generality of Nigerians, the WASSCE for school candidates is going on across the member countries of WAEC and the Nigerian child should not be put to a disadvantage of missing the exam.
“For the aforesaid reason, WAEC will conduct the exam and the Ministry of Education, school principals, supervisors, parents, and the public should please take note, and make adequate arrangements for their candidates to sit for the exams.”
The council solicits the cooperation of schools, parents and the ministry for successful conduct of the examinations.
A total of 1,814,344 candidates from 22,229 schools are currently writing the school exams, out of which 902,328 are males, amounting to 49.73 percent, while 912,016 are females, which is 50.27 percent of the total candidature.
The 1.8 million candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, and 197 papers, while about 30,000 senior secondary school teachers, nominated by various ministries of education, are supervising the examination.